We have a large garden in semi-rural Leicestershire. This blog is about what we do and what's happening out there because of - or in spite of - our rather amateur gardening efforts. We grow vegetables, we have an orchard with apples, plums and pears, as well as an extensive ornamental garden. Surrounded by fields we enjoy many species of birds, frogs & toads and occasional foxes and other four-legged visitors. Enjoy!

Tuesday, 2 April 2013

Indoor planting to beat the cold

Well, my planned Easter in the garden didn't happen!
There's still quite a bit of snow on the ground and the beds are sodden where they are not actually frozen. My son, Paul, dug over the "using" compost heap and filled a barrow and several large pots. It's 2-3 years old and looks pretty good. I planted up a couple more big pots with some Tescos-bought Juliette potatoes which had started sprouting in the cupboard and these have joined the row of pots of Orla potatoes in the big conservatory. The sun is quite warm and the day-time temperature in there is around 20 deg so hopefully we'll see some green shoots soon.
One of the 4 marrow seeds planted 10 days ago and kept on the south-facing bay window has sprouted. Nice to see some signs of Spring.
There's no point in planting anything in the sodden cold veg plots so today I (with a little help from Mum) planted up 12 pots, 5 seeds in each, of broad bean seeds saved from last year's bumper harvest. They'll be nice and warm in her conservatory and hopefully will grow into sturdy plants to put outside when the weather decides it really is Spring.